During college did you ever think about being a walk-on in your favorite sport? Now, of course I’m speaking about the ones that didn’t have that full ride scholarship and a reserved spot on the team. However, this pertains to everyone, scholarship or not. So how about it? Did you? Did you actually try out for the team or did you just think about doing it? If you did try out, did you make the team? Did you give it your best?
This is about making things happen. It’s about creating a spot for yourself. It’s about wanting it bad enough that you’ll do just about anything to get it.
If you think about a walk-on, what comes to mind? Determination? Persistence? Vision? I can tell you this much, a walk-on is someone that makes the team out of pure will power. It is that person that knows they can hang with the big dogs, the high recruits, that already have a place on the team. This is a person with drive, with ambition and with a tremendous amount of self belief. There is no spot on the team for the walk-on. He has to create his spot on the team, work hard for it and claim it as his own. He has to earn the right to play with the big dogs and a lot of the time, is one of the better players on the team. Most if the time, the coach already has a good idea of who is going to fill the open spot on the team. So if that’s not you, you’ve got to want it more!
I’d like to give credit to Wendy Stevens for providing the idea for this post. True story, Wendy was actually a walk-on. She had a conversation with the coach one day about what she could do to make the team. The coach told her, “Play left handed!” So she did everything with her left hand. When opening the door, she would use her left hand. She brushed her teeth left handed. If you’ve never tried that, do it. It isn’t as easy as it may seem. Wendy was right handed, but she made the team. She used muscles that had never been used in that way before. She had to train these muscles to work just as good as her right hand muscles in order to get the spot on the team.
This is exactly the same thing that a new entrepreneur or new network marketer goes through. They get started in a business opportunity to create that spot on the team, to reach their goal of being a big time player. Once started in a business you quickly find out that you have never done some of the things you are now required to do. You must think differently, work differently and operate in a completely different way than before. So you work at it and work at it until it becomes natural. You are exercising your entrepreneurial muscles and the more you do, the easier the game becomes. The easier the game becomes, the better your chances are in winning that spot.
If you’re having trouble finding the way to get ahead, just keep being consistent. Consistency = exercising those muscles. By doing things that feel different than anything else you have ever done before, you will start adding new skills into your game. Once these skills are streamlined to perfection, you will gain that winners edge and claim your spot on the team as the walk-on who wanted it most!